Our children have the right to an education.

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So many posts about whether schools will be safe when they reopen but I’m not seeing this point made. Lots of discussion around the childcare that schools provide and the importance on children socially.

My 11 year old has lost all interest and I can’t get him to do anything significant. We’ve had one zoom social with his teacher and classmates. So pretty much zero learning going on.

We know children are less susceptible and there is some discussion around whether they’re transmitting less. The children of key workers (i.e. the ones more likely to catch and spread it) have been at school the whole time and as far as I know there haven’t been massive outbreaks in schools.

So I think I just want to loudly shout: our children have the right to an education.

If teachers won't go back till it's safe then schools will have to remain closed indefinitely. This virus ain't going anywhere and a vaccine isn't guaranteed.

I understand teachers concerns but ill you hear is problems no solutions. We should be trying to find a resolution.

@Drivingdownthe101 your doing a great job. Don't put yourself under so much pressure, at their ages missing a bit of schoolwork will not be the end of the world. What's more important is that you look after your own mental health. Ignore anyone who says otherwise. You got this

I understand teachers concerns but ill you hear is problems no solutions. We should be trying to find a resolution.

And yes absolutely this.

But I’m beginning to wonder what the point of teachers are at all, given that apparently we are our children’s educators, there’s loads of stuff online anyway, Oaktree academy lessons are available.

Perhaps it’s time to save the public purse some money.

Children have the right to the education, but right for life for anyone triumph the right for education. Every children in lots of different countries are in a same boat. Few months of no school won't kill anyone, but the virus might.

I couldn't agree with you more, children absolutely do have a right to an education. But teachers also have a right to safety.

I'm a teacher and if I felt the situation was safe in the current situation then I would be more than happy to return. Nurses have been provided with some level of PPE but our government have said it's not necessary for us and yet still claim we can't see our family because it's not yet safe enough. The government are valuing the economy above the lives of teachers and more people need to be angry about that in the way that they are angry about nurses having to work with no PPE.

@LemonPudding, it is not abuse to wonder why teachers should be protected and not other key workers.

I'm not sure that it is time to open schools, not from the point of view of the teachers, but I'm not sure that children aren't spreaders, and I'm also not sure that there is no risk to the children if the virus mutates. My children are not in school so it doesn't impact me directly.

However to say teachers are suffering abuse on this thread really is stretching.

@Drivingdownthe101 maybe the internet and a forum with people with different forums isn't the right place for you right now.

There is thread after thread where teachers have offered solutions. Convenient not to have noticed those, eh?

Children have a right to education, Tchildren of staff in schools have a right to a living parent.

But then you poor parents will have to take some responsibility for your own DC, how will you ever cope and who will you blame when you realise how vacant they are?? 😱 isn’t it easier to throw money at it and make it someone else’s problem?

Opinions*

just go back into schools when it isn't safe.

Define safe. Go on. Zero risk? Nothing is zero risk. Even sitting in your house watching tv isn't zero risk.

Some teachers are really starting to piss me off and I'm generally hugely supportive of the profession. Both my parents were teachers and I really appreciate what they do. However at the moment the unions are whipping up hysteria around "safe" and making it clear they have no intention of letting their members go back to work until it's "safe" - whatever they mean by that.

Well this thread has taken a turn for the worse.

I’m so tired of hearing teachers and school staff moaning, and I say that as a teacher myself. Maybe any teacher unhappy with their lot should go and work in the supermarket facing a large number or total strangers pushing by, giving them abuse and remaining open throughout rather then be forced to face a small group of realistically 20 extra people for twice the salary. Our children need education and social contact - this virus is not going anywhere and let’s face it 25 people on average die from chicken pox each year but no one seems to notice that. You were all happy to listen to the government when they said go home and get paid but now suddenly you’re all about knowing better.

Nurses have been provided with some level of PPE but our government have said it's not necessary for us

Could that perhaps be, just hazarding a guess here, that nurses are dealing with people who are ILL and teachers aren't? Just speculating wildly here.

@howaboutanewname you'll have to forgive me there is an incredibly large amount of threads on this and I can't read them all, as WFH with two young kids, trying to home school with very little support from the teachers. I'm off this week so treated myself to more mumsnet!

Can you share the solutions you've seen please?

100 per cent agree OP, children are being massively let down.

My daughter is 14 (year 9) and has autism, she refuses to do work at home because work is for school. I’m really struggling to do anything educational with her apart from a few science experiments and some art/craft. She’s meant to be sitting 2 GCSE’s next year (year early) but I can’t see it happening now. My main concern is she is regressing with social skills and is spending a lot of time in her room.

I don’t know what the answer is, I understand that it’s not safe to have all kids in school, I understand teachers and TA’s are scared but I worry about the impact this will have on our kids.

I keep trying to tell myself that they wouldn’t be doing that much at school anyway this time of year, mainly fun things like sports days, school tripes etc..

Still not sure (abuse aside) why people think that teachers should work in unsafe conditions because they are having problems home -schooling.

They don’t. They think that covid is an additional risk that we face in the future. They think everyone in society needs to adjust their expectations. It has never been 100% safe to work in a school, all you can do is minimise the risks. The risks should be minimised absolutely but you cannot close schools forever.

A minority of teachers are doing themselves no favours. Some idiot in the TES Facebook page this morning stated that if it wasn’t safe enough for him to go to the pub it can’t be safe enough to teach. I mean FFS.

Sorry to those who thought this was teacher bashing, it was intended to be. I agree that teachers should have a safe environment to work in and I also agree my DC should have a safe environment to learn in.

The government need to prioritise finding a way to give children an education IMO and I don’t think a flimsy “hopefully schools can open but we can’t say how or promise when” message is suggesting they are prioritising that.

I fear for the long term impact.

IT WASN'T INTENDED. Terrible time for a typo!!!

Frankly, chips, no. You can read other threads just as easily as this one.

And please don’t pull the ‘I am oh so busy and you really can’t be’ card. I am about to sit at my kitchen table for 6 hours, do a full timetable of teaching online and then do marking etc. My 3 children will be ignored until about 5pm. Par for the course, my children don’t matter.

Anyone who talks about 'rights' whilst absolving themselves of their own personal responsibilities gets my down vote.

I wonder if there is a strong correlation between those who didn't want to stop flights back when the virus was flooding in because they had 'rights' to a holiday and people like the OP now.

We are in the middle of a global viral pandemic of a completely novel virus. How about being patient, and let's see what we can learn before using our kids as test subjects?

Could that perhaps be, just hazarding a guess here, that nurses are dealing with people who are ILL and teachers aren't? Just speculating wildly here.

I think teachers should be allowed to wear PPE if they wish. After a couple of hours they may well re assess how big a risk covid is to them I imagine.

Jinglinghellsbells

Faith in the science? Personally I think Coronavirus was here in UK well before Feb.

My oldest son had Pnuemonia last May and was in hospital for just over a week. Obviously this wasn't Coronavirus however, my other son was diagnosed in January this year with Pnuemonia after having a cough for 6 weeks and we kept being told it was viral. I don't know if he had Coronavirus (apparently it wasn't here in UK then according to the science,) but his school phoned me so I left work. He didn't have a high temperature when he went in that morning but from picking him up and driving to the surgery his temperature hit 38.9°C, his lovely Headteacher had been trying his inhaler for 30mins before phoning me. He was lying in my arms and barely responsive. I've never ever, seen him that poorly. Finally they did find some crackling sounds in his lungs but it wasn't apparent at first. He'd already been off school with that cough for a week that term and I was told it was viral.

Personal experience for me is to keep mine at home. As soon as he can be tested to find out whether he has Coronavirus antibodies then I'll definitely know but those tests still aren't 100%.

If people think I'm being irresponsible then so be it. He's a Reception child anyway so learning through play can be done at home just as well as at school.

I'm saying personally for me, I'm not prepared to risk my childrens' lives over statistics. Children are dying who have no other underlying health conditions which is fact.